Battle of Brown's Mill

Part of the American Civil War

Date	July 30, 1864 (1864-07-30)
Location	Coweta County, Georgia
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Edward M. McCook

Joseph Wheeler

Units involved

First Cavalry Division
Army of the Cumberland

Cavalry Corps
Army of Tennessee

Casualties and losses

100

The Battle of Brown's Mill was fought July 30, 1864, in Coweta County, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. Edward M. McCook's Union cavalry, on a daring raid to sever communications and supply lines in south-central Georgia, was defeated near Newnan, Georgia, by Confederate forces under Joseph Wheeler. The failure of McCook's column and a concurrent ill-fated raid by George Stoneman forced William T. Sherman to lay siege to the city of Atlanta.

During the Atlanta Campaign, Gen. William T. Sherman, wanting to avoid the necessity of laying siege to the city, ordered two columns of Federal cavalry on a series of raids south of Atlanta in an attempt to cut off supply and communication lines. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman led the cavalry of the Army of the Ohio to the southeast, while Brig. Gen. Edward M. McCook’s First Division of the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland was to sever railroads southwest of the city. He was to link with Stoneman and then seize the Andersonville prison camp and free the 32,000 prisoners held there.

Crossing the Chattahoochee River on a pontoon bridge erected at Smith’s Ferry, McCook’s cavalrymen reached Palmetto, where they cut the Atlanta & West Point Railroad. They captured and burned over 1,000 Confederate supply wagons at Fayetteville on July 28. General McCook also gained a reputation for condoning and encouraging the destruction of civilian property. Early the next morning, his raiders reached Lovejoy’s Station, twenty-three miles south of Atlanta, and began wrecking the Macon & Western Railroad. However, McCook called off the raid and turned back across the river when Stoneman failed to appear as planned.

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Wikipedia